Book Review: Cultural Literacy

Cultural Literacy, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. is an excellent read. If you are interested in educational theory, that is.

Hirsch makes the argument that basic knowledge of stories, characters, and concepts in our broader culture makes communication slicker. If a person knows how to read, that is not enough. They will not be able to understand the concepts referred to without a broader cultural schema in place.

To give you a better idea of what he is referring to, he cites characters from Shakespeare, Greek mythology, Christianity, and Charles Dickens. Little quotes, snippets, or moments in the above literature show up everywhere in our daily lives. If we are ignorant of the references made, we will miss broader concepts being communicated.

Hirsch proves this point using a paragraph about Grant and Lee's final negotiations near the end of the Civil War. None of the words were difficult, but high school kids were unable to understand the paragraph if they didn't know enough about Grant and Lee or the milieu in which they were operating.

This kind of missed message happens all the time for those who lack basic cultural literacy. Of course, I am motivated to increase my cultural knowledge after reading this book. Fortunately, there is a Cultural Literacy dictionary on Amazon with recently updated information. And unfortunately, I have purchased it, which means there will be one more book in my to-read pile that will threaten to topple over and bury me one day.

P.S. This book also contains a great chapter on portions of the linguistic history of English, Chinese, and Spanish. I had no idea that there was so much to know about the evolution of languages. Truly, you don't know what you don't know, and.... the more you know, the more you know you don't know!!